Within the animal world we find many species that have unique characteristics, which in many cases makes them considerably particular. An example of this is found in giraffes, which are native to Africa and are distinguished by being the tallest land animals that exist. Giraffes are ruminant mammals, so their diet is exclusively herbivorous, for which they use their enormous neck, thus exclusively eating plants that no other animal can reach unless they manage to climb.
Over time there have been different hypotheses about why giraffes have such long necks So, in this article of our site we want to present information about it so that you know the benefits and disadvantages that members of these species have thanks to this particular trait.
Giraffe neck characteristics
When we see a giraffe with a neck that can measure up to 2 meters, we can think that its internal anatomy is totally different from that of other artiodactyls or ungulates, the order to which these animals belong. However, studies [1] have shown that giraffes, like other mammals (with the exception of three genera),they have seven cervical vertebrae. So their long neck has not affected, at least structurally, their spine.
The main differences that the giraffe has in its vertebrae have to do with certain transverse holes and significant lengthening of the vertebral centers, which finally explains why they have such a long neck. In this sense, and despite dissimilar opinions, giraffes have a vertebral column with the same number of structural units, but clearly more elongated.
The above results in more than half of the giraffe's spine being made up of elongated cervical vertebrae. While the other vertebrae in its spine are similar in length to other ungulates.
In this sense, the giraffe's neck is an adaptive aspect of this animal that makes it unique and despite the various postures for the reasons of this evolutionary result, it is estimated that environmental limitations must have had an important role in the shape of this peculiar structure.
Why do giraffes have long necks?
The debate about why giraffes have such long necks, is not recent at all. On the contrary, Centuries have passed since it began. One of the first to postulate ideas about this fact was the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck (1744-1829), who proposed that these animals previously had a short neck, but that by constantly stretching it to try to feed on the leaves more high in the trees, developed this new phenotype, which was an acquired trait promoted by the environment and also heritable. However, Lamark's ideas were discarded by the scientific community of the time.
Later, Charles Darwin (1809-1882), took up Lamark's evolutionary ideas and established that this event occurred through a process known as natural selection. Darwin explains that giraffes with longer necks survived on those with shorter necks, being able to continue feeding when the lower leaves of the trees were exhausted and these inherited this character to their descendants. This then explains the favoring of the long neck trait as an event of natural selection, linked to competition for food.
Although Darwin's ideas, together with current scientific progress, have not been completely ruled out regarding the fact of the long neck of giraffes, other more recent hypotheses have also emerged. One is similarly linked to natural selection, but in this case related to the sexual aspect. According to this, the males of this group develop a duel known as necking, which consists of facing each other using their necks as weapons, so that they push each other and make strength by supporting one neck against the other. The male that wins this confrontation achieves reproductive success with the female, which could explain the favoring of the development, permanence and inheritance of the long neck trait in the group.
Given the aspects raised, there are positions that express the non-exclusion of both mechanisms mentioned above. That is, selection for the food competition and the sexual aspect, may have altogether originated and favored the development of the long neck of giraffes.
Although studies are still lacking to prove the evolutionary relationship, recent research [2] has codified the genetic sequence of giraffes and found the presence of genes that have an impact on the skeletal and cardiovascular development of these animals. So if they have undergone some slight changes, it could be the explanation why these mammals have become the tallest in the terrestrial world.
Another idea that has been proposed is that the giraffes that inhabit the hot African savannahs are not better regulators of body heat than other animals in this habitat. So the neck may have evolved to favor this aspect, since by directing it towards the sun, it manages to generate a shadow on its own body, which allows it to reduce the solar incidence on it, thus regulating the temperature of its physical structure. In this sense, this hypothesis would be linked to an evolutionary aspect related to the thermoregulation of the animal
Advantages and disadvantages of the giraffe's long neck
Without a doubt, one of the greatest advantages of the giraffe's long neck is Being able to feed on the leaves that are located in the highest partsof the trees, so this food is somehow exclusive to these animals. Another aspect that favors them is that being so tall, they can more easily see the presence of predators in the area and be able to prepare to protect themselves. For example, in the presence of lions who are one of their main predators when they are adults.
As for the disadvantages, we can mention that precisely their peculiar height trait makes them an animal easily identified at a certain distance, so their predators do not require much effort to find them. In this sense, their size makes it difficult for them to hide. Additionally, giraffes require a highly efficient anatomical and physiological system to be able to maintain themselves adequately, which implies the need for a large amount of daily food and a great effort for their bodies, especially in the environmental conditions in which they live.
